This story from Boca Raton has it all diplomacy, ingenunity, and a happy ending: When the powerful governing body of Florida’s high school athletics informed Weinbaum Yeshiva basketball coach Jon Kaweblum that the bobby pins Jewish athletes use to keep their yarmulkes pinned to their heads during games would be suddenly be considered a safety hazard (in spite of the absence of even one hair accessory-related injury in the many decades of Yeshiva sports,) he could have called “foul!” The Yeshiva certainly had a case for religious discrimination, but instead of raising a big stink and threatening to secede from the organization, 26 year-old Kaweblum put his keppe to work to find a solution that wouldn’t punish the players.
The result: A pin-free kippah that won’t leave the court strewn with clips. Klipped Kippahs made their debut on the heads of Weinbaum’s team, and stay put using small combs attached to the underside. (There’s a discount for bulk orders, and you can even send in your own kippah for modification!) The simple design was approved wholeheartedly and immediately by the Florida High School Athletic Association, a resolution resonant of Talmudic inspiration.
“This is more than clips on a yarmulke,” said the Yeshiva’s headmaster Rabbi Perry Tirschwell. “I told the children, ‘Don’t let this lesson be lost on you. There will be obstacles, but you can keep true to your faith and your principles and participate in the American experience.'”
Let’s hair it for innovation. 😉
Isn’t there a little ditsel called ‘Keep On’
which consists of a bit of velcro that attaches a kippah to one’s head?
yeah — but will this work for us 40-somethings with thinning hair?
My African historian wife has turned me on to these lovely Abayudaya kipot: http://www.kulanuboutique.com/catalog/kippot%20photo.jpg
which stay on your head very snugly sans pins … the Abayudaya CD is great too!
Schvach,
One of the local Chabad groups in Houston has a store called “Jumbo Judaica” that sells the “KippOn.” I’m pretty sure it is velcro based but I’ve never really inspected them. Personally, I love the gigantic velvet orthodox kippot. The little ones never stay on my head and I find the large ones to be pretty comfortable. They aren’t particularly attractive, but I’m not a flashy guy and they are big enough to stay on my head, even without pins (I still use one, just in case).
Johnny — Like you, for purely practical reasons — I like big velvet one too, although it tends to give people the wrong impression.
My wonderful friend, Binah Polay, who taught me to chant Torah, has a wonderful solution. At least for guys with short hair. You just sew a little velcro in a couple places on the inside. Voila!
All these raiding methods worked well intended for Islam. Very much loot ended up being performed available as merchandise along with income taxes.